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A Time to Vote
Rep. Jesse Jackson Introduces IRV Bill in Congress
Source: FairVote.org
Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., today introduced H.R. 5293,
the Majority Vote Act of 2004, which would require States by
2008 to conduct general elections for Federal office using
an instant runoff voting system. It also directs the
Election Assistance Commission to make grants to States to
defray the costs of administering such systems. The law
would be applied to all federal elections in the States and
include the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, American Samoa, Guam, and the United States Virgin
Islands.
Jackson said, "The term 'instant runoff voting system' means
a system for the election of candidates under which 'runoff
counts' of candidates are conducted in rounds. Voters vote
by ranking candidates on the ballot according to the order
of their preference. If in any round no candidate receives
a majority of the votes cast, the candidate with the fewest
number of votes is eliminated and the remaining candidates
advance to the next round. In each round a voter shall be
considered to have cast one vote for the candidate the voter
ranked highest on the ballot that has not been eliminated.
The runoff counts are carried out automatically at the time
the votes are cast and tabulated so there is no actual
second election. A candidate is elected only when they
reach 50 percent plus one.
"For example in Florida in 2000 under the instant runoff
system voters would have cast their vote by ranking the
candidates in the order of their choice from among Al Gore,
George Bush, Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan. In this instance
Pat Buchanan finished last so he would be eliminated but his
voters' second choice would be added to the totals of the
other candidates. The same procedure would have been
applied to the candidates with the next fewest votes, in
this instance Ralph Nader. This process would continue
until one of the candidates received 50 percent plus one of
the votes.
"Instant runoff voting insures that a candidate is elected
by a majority of voters and provides the winner with a
mandate to govern. Instant runoff voting prohibits voting
for a candidate who has policies and programs with which you
agree resulting in the election of a candidate who has
policies and programs with which you disagree. The simple
plurality winner system used in most general elections today
creates an incentive for candidates to engage in negative
campaigning. Instant runoff voting encourages candidates to
engage in positive campaigning in order to receive a higher
ranking from their opponents' supporters. Instant runoff
voting is used in Utah Republican Party primaries, Ireland,
Australia and London," Jackson concluded.
FairVote.Org is a project of The Center for Voting and Democracy, a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to fair elections where every vote counts and all voters are represented.
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